What to test for

oscar83

oscar83

AC Members
May 21, 2004
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Middletown, NJ
Yet another stupid sw newbie question from me.... what should I test for in my reef tank? as of now i test ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, salinity, and ph. i dont add iodine or anything like that but should i be testing for iodine anyway? what else should i test my water for? thanks all
 
Well you got the basic tests down. The others depend on what's in your tank/hoping to put in there. So more info on that would help in getting an answer
 
in my tank right now as for fish I have 2 percula clowns, yellow tang, lawnmower blenny, bullet goby, lunare wrasse, and a keyhole angel. 15 hermits (blue leg, zebra, and scarlet) and a black cucumber. I also have a branching torch, green button polyps, a few red mushrooms, and a feather duster. i have about 40 lbs of live rock and 40 lbs of live sand. i plan on getting a leather umbrella, bubble coral, some red zoos, frogspawn, hammer coral, and possiibly a sebae anemone. thats all i can think of right now.

edit: forgot, i would also eventually like to get a clam of some sort, i was thinking either a maxima or crocea
 
Calcium and alkalinity should be tested as well. Especially for stony corals, there are crucial to keep within range.
 
forgot to mention i do test for calcium... arent ph and alkalinity one and the same ? :confused: my readings are as follows:
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 20 ppm
calcium: 400 ppm
phosphate: .2 ppm
salinity: 1.025
ph: 8.3

are these parameters acceptable? anything else i shoud test for?
 
If you're not using an additive to increase it, and you're not seeing low calcium levels, I wouldn't worry too much.
 
ok, well thats a relief. the only problem is that over the past 2 months or so ive lost just about every coral that ive put in my tank and i cant figure out why. so far i lost a bubble coral, umbrella leather, devils hand, and my red mushrooms. i also got some pom pom xenia a few days ago and thats lookin kinda sad right now. and my green button polyps are starting to look crappy as well. any ideas on whats going wrong here? all of my fish seem to be happy and healthy, as does my surviving torch coral and feather duster. i just checked my water parameters a few minutes ago:
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 15 ppm
calcium: 580 ppm
phosphate: .2 ppm
alkalinity: 6.5 meq/L (325 ppm)
pH: 8.1
salinity: 1.024
temp: 81 deg farenheit

im sooo confused as to what im doing wrong here :confused:
 
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